Vitality
by Galbert-Kun
Summary: Beck and Robbie are vying for Jade's affection. Robbie comes to the conclusion that if he does not do something that stands out, Beck will win the affection battle. *submitted for The Rade One Shot Contest*


Writer's Note= **I do not own Victorious.**

**For the contest, this will be a special Thanksgiving-themed Rade. For the purposes of this story, Jade is single, though both Beck and Robbie are vying for her affection. Robbie comes to the conclusion that if he does not do something about it, that Beck will win the affection battle. That, coupled with it being Thanksgiving, and the situation is made even more problematic.**

**Enjoy reading the story!**

***Rade salute***

* * *

><p>It was now or never for Robbie Shapiro. He had been crushing on Jade West for so long now that if he did not step it up and let her know of his feelings, he would lose to Beck. That's how it is for men because while it is fairly common that two men vie for the affection of a woman, they treat it as a competition. Robbie wasn't even thinking about Beck at all throughout his courtship of Jade, what with a blog and school responsibilities and of course, Jade.<p>

Jade and the rest of the girls knew of what the two boys were doing, not bringing it up when they were having lunch together. Andre was already with Tori, so they made sure to be in their own world during the eating hour. As with any autumn month, the weather did not make a special exception for the Hollywood Arts environment.

"I'm getting cold…" Jade purposely let that trail whilst Beck unbuttoned his expensive leather jacket and put it on Jade. Cat and Tori smiled in approval and discreet turned their eyes towards Robbie, whom had _left _the table. That confused the friends because they expected Robbie to nervously do something chivalrous and stutter along the way; however, the stuttering was not the case, but the chivalry was.

"Why are you all looking at me as if I was weird or something? I just bought some more food because I'm very hungry today." Robbie did not immediately sit in his usual spot at the table, but rather he approached and stood on Jade's right side and put his hand in the bag, producing a piping-hot bowl.

"You said that you were cold and while I was getting more food, I saw that the soup was on special. Thinking of you, I knew you would enjoy eating a bowl because soup warms the body, hence you would not feel cold."

"You got me soup?" Jade said as her eyes were glued to Robbie's as the latter blushed a little bit whilst unwrapping the plastic spoon. Jade took of the lid as she smelled the soup and licked the corner of her lip, excited for the delicious soup she was about to eat. Robbie gave her a nudge on the shoulder and he waved goodbye to his friends and headed for his locker. He gets there a couple of minutes later and he taps his head against his locker.

_Everyone has their own way of courting. Beck is being very direct with his, an approach which I can't talk down on because on the real, Jade is the type of girl who likes that in man. To me, she is the type of girl who is frank and whomever she wants as her boyfriend, she will expect a similar degree of directness. I'm convinced that my way is more effective, but I can't make the decision at the end…_

* * *

><p>Some days later in the middle of autumn's peak month, the group was hanging out at Tori's house, to which Tori herself asked <em>why do we always hangout here?<em> Andre put his arms around his girl as that gesture quickly calms her down.

"That's so cute Tori, how you're all glowing and everything!" It was Cat's responsibility to point out all things cute from the group, which was no surprise that her sharpness was on display. Tori didn't have another complaint after her trademark one. Now the attention was put on a different issue- Thanksgiving. Hollywood Arts students were tasked with setting up a mega-dinner that would encompass all of the students and some family. Just thinking about all of the cooking et al was making each person of the group's head spin.

"How are we going to help?" Tori was now focused on the Thanksgiving dinner preparations, as she brainstormed ideas about what they could make.

"I could bring applesauce and make banana bread." Robbie immediately told a story about how he first made banana bread, which quickly bored everyone in the group.

"I've never had banana bread before," Jade said as she sat a little closer to Robbie and farther away from Beck, whose eyebrows burrowed in jealousy, "is it hard to make?"

"Not at all Jade because the instructions are simple. There are tedious steps involved, what with the eggs, flour, and etcetera. If you want, you can help me in making the bread. I'll show you how I do it and then with two people, we can make a lot of banana bread for everyone. They'll love it!" Jade slowly clapped as she smiled at the same time, smitten with the fact that she'll be helping with making something.

"I just realized something… I'm not a very good cook."

"Nobody is born knowing everything Jade," Robbie told her before Beck's loud snort ceased the conversation. Robbie merely rolled his eyes up and down in disapproval. He had the sense that Beck was being threatened by his way of courting, but Robbie did not have time to care about his reactions.

"So," Andre said to break the tension between Robbie and Beck, "Tori and I will help with the turkeys, Cat you are in charge of the silverwear and pumpkin pies, Beck you are making salad, and Robbie you are taking care of the banana bread,"

"That's correct."

"What are you going to do Jade?" Jade thought for a minute, and made the decision that she'll be miscellaneous.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll help everyone out." With that, everyone left to get some rest because the next couple of days were going to be hell due to the preparation.

* * *

><p>It was not to be taken lightly when it was said that the next couple of days were going to be hell because while everyone was working for the most part, there were those people that took one too many little breaks. The preparation for the big feast had to be in an assembly line type of fashion; one group would be done with their part and they'd pass it on to the others. Robbie told his team how to make quality banana bread in the shortest amount of time, which they did. The bread the team made was decent and to the ones that did not taste so well, Robbie simply added cinnamon and vanilla frosting to add more sweetness to it. Cat had all of the plates in order and was having a grand ole time making the pies with her team. Tori and Andre were at first challenged with the turkeys, but then their team got into it, and spent the two days cooking up a turkey storm, what with the stuffing added to the birds.<p>

After some time on Thanksgiving night, everything seemed to be going well. All of the food was on the table as Hollywood Arts students took their seats. There was a special section just off to the side of the main table that was dedicated to the heads of the prep teams. Cat was there, as well as Andre, Tori, and then Beck and Jade.

"You two are looking chummy,"

"Only because banana bread was pretty cool to make," replied Beck, who winked at Jade. Jade had a great time making the bread, but the one who showed her how was nowhere to be found.

"Is it okay that we ask now?" Cat was exasperated because she wanted to find out the results of the 'competition' between Beck and Robbie. Jade smiled as she smelled her plate.

"This smell is amazing,"

"We can't start eating until Robbie gets here… by the way, where is he?"

"Hmm, I would think that he'd be here alongside us,"

"No drr Vega, he's one of our friends. Why, little ole me is very, VERY worried,"

"I don't talk like that!"

"I know you don't, can't you take a joke?" Jade immediately burst out in laughter, as everyone else soon followed. This made Tori blush in embarrassment because of how serious she took it. They all waited several minutes for Robbie to show up, but he did not and the rumblings started about his whereabouts. An annoying cell phone went off as the dude whose it belonged to frantically touched it so it would stop beeping.

"_I'm at the park, don't tell Jade because she's picked Beck F***!_" Jade was about to scarf the turkey slice when Sinjin out of all people rushed to the special table.

"Sorry about my phone going off, I have a very interesting,"

"Great what do you want?"

"Robbie told me not to tell you… but he's at the park right now." Everyone collectively gasped as Jade lowered her head in remorse.

"You're not with Beck?"

"Cat!"

"Sorry, I just wanted to know,"

"It's alright Vega… Beck?"

"I realized that after flirting so much, that we would be great friends, but not lovers."

"Crap, that thing we did with the bowl and our hands gave Robbie the wrong impression." Jade knew what she needed to do, which would explain her grabbing belongings and excusing herself. No one dared questioned where she was going since they all knew that answer. Jade hoped that Robbie would not be mad at her.

* * *

><p>Robbie was staring intently at the Hollywood sign. <em>At least you are going to stay true<em>, he thought to himself as the leaves continued to pile up. It was getting late at night and he was so distraught that he forgot to go to the supermarket to pick up some soup to sip on while he pouted on the lone bench at the park.

_Things happen for a reason and you cannot force an outcome to happen in your favor. If it is meant to happen, then it will._

"Why do I talk to myself during times like this?" Robbie could no longer tolerate the solemn chills of the wind, so he got up and walked to his car, where he only pressed the button to have the car unlock before some one screeched to a stop right next to his car. Jade walked out of the car, saw the bench and started walking to it, motioning for Robbie to follow suit.

"Um, what are you doing here?"

"Sinjin told me where you were."

"He wasn't supposed to tell anyone where I was."

"I had to bribe him."

"Really, how did you do that?"

"I held his hand for five seconds so he can tell me which park you were at… ugh!" Robbie couldn't help but laugh at Jade creeping out when reminisced. It got quiet once again as Robbie stared at the Hollywood sign.

"Why are you here, aren't you supposed to be with Beck?" Jade knew that Robbie would ask such a question, but she was prepared for it as she scooted closer to him. Robbie gave a bit of a cold shoulder to Jade, still miffed at what had happened earlier.

"I thought you had chosen Beck?" Robbie's voice had lost a bit of its edge as Jade's head was now resting on his shoulder. The glass in his frame were getting foggy as the minutes trooped on.

"I know you and Beck will never admit it because of your pride, but I know you two were competing for my affection. Beck is a nice guy who knows what he wants… it's just that he was too direct for my liking. I like for a man to be direct, but he was too much of that for my liking."

"I see…" Robbie really did not want to hear about Beck's faults, but he was in no position to tell Jade what to talk about. The latter told Robbie to sit pat as she went to her car for a minute. His mind trailed lucidly; it was happening again.

"_Jade, I've been trying to tell you something for a long time._"

"Go on, what did you want to tell me?"

"_I've felt this way ever since I first laid eyes on you. I cannot keep these feelings bottled inside of me no longer. I'm in love with you Jade West, ever since day one. I know I'm not the most handsome of guys, but I want you to know that I compensate for that lack of look with my heart. You saw my gesture the other day- I did not do that to get on your good side, I did that because you needed something to warm you up. What better way than piping hot chicken broth?_"

"_I understand if you don't feel the same way about me… I feel content knowing where I stand. If our situations were reversed, I'd choose you in a heartbeat_… _something smells REALLY good right now_."

"That's me." Jade carefully set her containers down and pulled Robbie up where they rustled around until Robbie fell on the moist grass, back facing the night sky, with Jade doing a frog splash and landing on his stomach. That knocked the air out of him for a minute, but he didn't mind.

"What was all that for?"

"I didn't realize it until now that you are the guy for me. Beck is nice, but he's only a friend to me. You, on the other hand, are so much more and mean so much more to me. The soup gesture was the confirmation I needed because I realized that your act of chivalry is the biggest quality I want a man. You can be direct all you would like, but it's the little things that matter the most."

"So in case you didn't realize Robbie Shapiro… I choose you." Robbie wanted to open the waterworks, but opted to pull Jade close to him for an embrace.

"I love you Jade,"

"I love you too Robbie… but our soups are going to not love us if we let them get cold."


End file.
